DEBBIE lives in leafy Rainham with her mum and social-climbing stepdad. When she breaks the news she s pregnant by lowlife Billy McDaid, she s thrown out of the house and sets up home with Billy. It s the worst thing she could do and before long she is re

DEBBIE lives in leafy Rainham with her mum and social-climbing stepdad.

When she breaks the news she's pregnant by lowlife Billy McDaid, she's thrown out of the house and sets up home with Billy.

It's the worst thing she could do and before long she is regularly being beaten up.

Not knowing where to turn and feeling she can't admit her predicament to her mum and hated stepfather, Debbie sticks it out.

And life gets even worse when the baby is born. From the moment he takes his first lungful of air, Charlie is selfish and manipulative.

And, doted on by his violent, feckless dad who encourages his bad behaviour, Charlie grows into the child from hell - mean, sadistic and out of control.

He's expelled from nursery and when Debbie tries to lay down the law, she is undermined by Billy.

And as she begins to build bridges with her family, Charlie threatens to destroy it all.

But he's still her son. How far will she go to protect him?

Like her first book, Kimberley Chambers' Born Evil (�16.99, Preface) is a compelling read, set in and around east London and Essex among the lives of petty criminals and the occasional heart of gold.

- LINDSAY JONES